Wednesday 8th January

Sorry folks but did not get round to an entry last night as I was not in top form, a stinker of a cold, no voice either, Margaret thought she was in second heaven in the house... Forgot to mention back on Sunday that James has Snowdrops out in his garden at Mill cottage, looking at ours down beside the burn this afternoon, think they are a few days off yet. Yesterday Peter had see the Iceland Gull at Uiskentuie, 2 Whoopers at "smelly corner" and 120 Wigeon further on round the top of Loch Indaal towards Bridgend. Ed yesterday had a Golden Eagle trying its' luck with some Whitefronts. At Craigens, Ed saw another Iceland Gull eating the remains of a Barnie and he reports that the Glaucous Gull was still at Bruichladdich yesterday. Today up at Craigens, Ed had an imm. White tailed Eagle fly over towards Loch Gruinart.

Monday 6th January

First thing this morning, a ringtail Hen Harrier flew past the cottages and later on in the morning I had another ringtail out on the wing close to Saligo. Out towards the War Graves the flock of around 100 Lapwing is still present along the Barnies and Whitefronts. Also there today were about 100 Golden Plover on the wing. The weather over here today has not been too bad, dry and windy, but I was rather surprised that we only had a ferry leaving Port Askaig at 0700 and not coming back at all, possibly they were thinking of the swell and high tides leading possible problems when docking. The plane came in both times today and on time, no problems there...

Sunday 5th January

Yes, think the Fulmars were correct in coming in to pay us a visit early yesterday, as the weather broke down again after lunchtime with more heavy rain coupled with the wind picking up too. The ferry was hoping to come over this evening and the afternoon plane arrived a wee bit later than scheduled, at least it came! James made the most of it and got some birds on the reserve at Gruinart this morning, a flock of 17 Reed Buntings, 5 Gadwall, 11 Whoopers, a Greenshank and also a White tailed Sea Eagle. Think the weather is due to settle down after tomorrow, we will just have to wait and see...

Saturday 4th January

A calm day over here today, but then again I did see a couple of Fulmars out on the wing along the front of the crag just after breakfast time so perhaps the wind is due to pick up again. Come to mention it, the ferries are on an "Amber alert for tomorrow afternoon...hmmm.. And there has already been an inch of rain so far in 2014!!! Also today, Peter and Pia have returned and were in touch to say the the Glaucous Gull is still down at Bruichladdich, on the grass outside the Distillery and the beach. At the Uiskentuie end of the strand the Iceland Gull is still present, with both Peter and Pia and also James spotting it too. Peter and Pia also had 35 Pale bellied Brent along the shore between Bruichladdich and Uiskentuie.

Friday 3rd January

Yesterday, James saw a Golden Eagle over the reserve at Gruinart from his house. This morning, Jack Fleming had a Glaucous Gull from his his house along the flats at Gruinart. Visiting birder, David Bates had sent some sightings through via Malcolm. On the 31st December, David had 2 Canada Geese, hutchinsii sp over close to Mulindry, with another one seen down at Uiskentuie on the 1st of January. Other birds seen by David were a flock of 125 Skylark at Lyrabus, 3 Greenshank on reserve at Gruinart, 200 Twite and also 200 Rock Doves both at Craigens. He also saw a 2nd winter Glaucous Gull at Uiskentuie on the 2nd and also again today. So I wonder if that was the same bird that Jack had as I was not sure of its' age, and a different one from the Bruichladdich gull...

Thursday 2nd January

Forgot to mention the other day that another bird that we saw down in Surrey was a pr of Mandarin on a pond at Bushy Park The flock of Lapwing were still present along with the Geese out towards the War Graves again today, here at home the bird table has been busy with the wee birds all feeding their faces off... The rainfall tally for last month was 7.5" giving an overall tally for 2013 coming to 51", a dry year for over here!!!

Wednesday 1st January

A Happy New Year to you all out there, wherever you may be... Not much to report today, but there was a flock of around 100 Lapwing out over the Machir around the War Graves' graveyard this morning along with a few Barnies and some Whitefronts too. A Sparrowhawk flew along the front of the cottages at a great turn of speed, and later on a Merlin was down below Rockside, possibly the same one that Marc had seen chasing after the Reed Buntings. The rain this afternoon, did not deter folk going down to Machir Bay for a walk!!